How Lokpal motion of 2011 may have helped Congress in 2014

(Following is an extract from the chapter named “Hindutva vs the ‘Ecosystem’” from the guide “Sanghi Who Never Went To A Shakha” authored by Rahul Roushan)
The ecosystem not attacking the Nehru–Gandhi household acerbically was seen through the anti-corruption motion too. None of the influential leaders of Team Anna, particularly somebody like Arvind Kejriwal, took the title of Sonia Gandhi as one of many corrupt leaders who must be kicked out.
Had Anna Hazare’s quick ended in another way, say with out the entire acrimony the place the Congress tried to assault the motion and model it as RSS-sponsored, it could have solely helped the Congress. Perhaps, the perfect finish to your complete drama would have been Rahul Gandhi promising to represent the workplace of the Lokpal, and endlessly performed TV visuals the place he’s seen providing a glass of orange juice to Anna Hazare, ending his fast-unto-death pledge.
The circumstances of corruption, corresponding to 2G, CWG, coal rip-off, would have been effortlessly blamed on Manmohan Singh within the standard narrative, which might have been constructed as soon as Rahul Gandhi turned UPA-III prime minister in 2014.
A number of weeks earlier than the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had expressed confidence that historical past might be kinder to him. It was nearly a farewell assertion that hinted that he too knew that no matter what occurred within the 2014 elections, he received’t grow to be the prime minister once more.
And had the Congress received—and there may have been a fats likelihood of it profitable had the anti-corruption motion ended the way in which I described within the earlier paragraph—historical past would positively not have been kinder to Manmohan Singh. The darbari historians would have painted him because the villain to make Rahul Gandhi the hero. A rehearsal of the identical was already executed in September 2013, when Rahul Gandhi tore an ordinance by his personal authorities that protected convicted lawmakers.
I’ve my causes to imagine that the anti-corruption motion, when it was launched, was not likely aiming to drag down the Congress-led authorities. Swami Agnivesh, one of many unique members of Team Anna, was as soon as heard speaking over the telephone—purportedly to Congress chief Kapil Sibal, although he later mentioned that it was one other Kapil—the place he in contrast his colleagues with wild elephants (mad elephant or pagal haathi to be exact).
Agnivesh was heard saying that Team Anna had misplaced their means and had been behaving like wild elephants who weren’t able to cease their onslaught. So, was Team Anna presupposed to behave in a restrained method and finish their motion after a sure time frame?
Maybe they had been, as a result of a short-lived motion by the ecosystem would have helped the Congress. It would have created an atmosphere that was in opposition to a corrupt ‘political class’, the place the Congress and the BJP had been to be equally seen as corrupt, thus denying the BJP any political benefit on the difficulty of corruption—much like what had occurred forward of the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, the place an atmosphere was created in opposition to the political class over the difficulty of home safety and never in opposition to the ruling class or social gathering. That would have been a job completely executed by the ecosystem, however by some means it determined to stretch it past the consolation of the Congress social gathering.
It appears that the worldwide developments round that point, particularly the ‘Arab Spring’ of 2010–12, which resulted in regime modifications in lots of nations of the Middle East and North Africa, gave a false hope to the ecosystem that they, too, may usher in such a revolution in India. If profitable, it could have allowed them to rule instantly, without having the crutches and crumbs from the Congress social gathering. Perhaps, that dream made them run amok like wild elephants, within the phrases of Agnivesh.
In reality, TV journalist Rajdeep Sardesai, in a viral video clip presumably recorded someday in 2012, is heard saying in Marathi that he had suggested Arvind Kejriwal to do a ‘Tahrir Square’ in India across the anti-corruption motion (Rajdeep Sardesai has confirmed the veracity of this video clip by repeating the identical in his guide 2014: The Election that Changed India’, Penguin Books, New Delhi, 2014). Tahrir Square is located in Cairo, the capital of Egypt, and it had seen mass protests in February 2011, which went on to be one of many essential occasions of Arab Spring. It resulted within the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak, who had dominated for nearly 30 years continuous, earlier than the protests broke out.
It can’t be dominated out that the ecosystem truly thought that they might pull off one thing much like an Arab Spring in India too. If so, they had been primarily attempting to seize energy instantly, as an alternative of getting a share of it through the Congress. This doable plan and need of the ecosystem could possibly be crudely likened to a prison or native dada deciding to combat the elections himself, as an alternative of lending his muscle energy to another candidate and being his sidekick.
That plan, if it existed, didn’t actually fructify as Anna Hazare motion fizzled out over time. It couldn’t collect mass help just like the actions within the Arab world did. Team Anna particularly failed to draw any significant help exterior Delhi. Some deliberate protests in Mumbai attracted very skinny crowds and subsequent protests in Delhi had began shedding sheen. Other components of the nation too gave very tepid response to requires native protests. However, the fervour and vitality stored working excessive among the many devoted staff and it usually mirrored on social media platforms.
The ecosystem quickly realized, if in any respect it hoped to rule instantly by overthrowing the Congress in some standard rebellion, that their plans had been impractical. However, they didn’t lose all hope. Their need of bypassing the Congress and capturing energy instantly resulted within the formation of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which did exceedingly effectively within the December 2013 Delhi meeting elections. It gave them hope that they might make an affect within the 2014 Lok Sabha elections too, solely to seek out out that Modi was too good for them.
[The book ‘Sanghi Who Never Went To A Shakha’ has been published by Rupa Publications (March 2021). It is authored by Rahul Roushan, an entrepreneur and media professional, and currently the CEO of OpIndia digital group.]